The Exact Strategy I Used to Earn Passive Income
Tried twice, this method works.
It wasn’t a ‘life goal’ to earn passive income.
You see, I quit my job to step away from the hamster wheel. I don’t want to be in the rut of more money than last month/year and surrender to a wheel that has no end.
The wheel of temptation.
So here’s the exact method I used to earn passive income not once, but twice. Of course, you also have to be comfortable by earning $500 a night and nothing for the next two weeks.
That's why income diversification is important so you don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
Here’s exactly what I did to get the taste, sweet intoxication, of the much-hyped up passive income.
What Do You Rate Yourself 7/10 On?
Do you feel:
- You’re not an expert
- Others already know what you want to say
- You’re not good enough for *enter idea*
I won’t tell you that those are just thoughts and not you, but you already know that. It’s just a voice in your head. So let’s move to the practical aspect.
You just have to be three steps ahead of others to write, create, or build something. Once you do that, you’ll get better with time.
Do this
Find what you’re just a tad bit better at than others, and build on that.
Build in Public
People resonate with other people, not gurus
I didn’t expect to be overbooked when I launched a course for the first time. I didn’t expect to sell out (or even sell 3 seats) for the future cohorts.
And this is exactly how I did that — by building in public.
Problem: It’s scary
Hey, I know it's scary.
I know you’re afraid of being judged. I know it’s difficult to get out there, and you’ll overthink about how much to share and whether you should even share your accomplishments. Will it look too braggy?
Do it.
People resonate with other people, not gurus. Gurus may get likes, but people like you and I have a better advantage in building relationships. To learn, teach, exchange stories, be friends.
Advantage: Build your audience without extra effort
If you want passive income, you have to sell. If you want to sell, people need to trust you.
Most of my audience are people who first saw me discovering myself, then side hustling, then slowly becoming self-employed. This happened over the course of 18 months.
They’ve seen the journey, so it makes me credible.
If you want passive income, you have to sell. If you want to sell, people need to trust you.
It’s not just about sharing your wins but being honest, being vulnerable, and sharing the truth. Don’t paint an ideal picture, paint your life’s picture.
Show your journey for a year. And by being you, you build an audience as well.
The Process
Here’s what I did. I know it's not rocket science. You probably already know this. But do you do it?
- Give away for free: again, this automatically happens when you build in public and give value
- No expectations for a year: focus on value, building relationships, and forget the money
- Launch#1: launch a freebie, promote it as a CTA for a few months.
- Launch #2: I suggest launching another freebie because people love freebies.
- Launch #3: This is where people pay you. Boom.
Now, here’s a mistake I made that could’ve made me money but didn’t.
I uploaded it on a fancy landing page. Ugh.
Launch your freebie on Gumroad on a pay-what-you-want model. This helped me earn $250 for a FREE checklist in under 2 months and built an email list of 1462 folks.
And guess what, it only took me 30 minutes to make this checklist.
What can be your product?
eBooks, checklists, guides, email courses, video courses — the world is your oyster.
If you have a skill that can improve others, pursue it.
Don’t Sell Without This, You Won’t Make Money
Now, I have a cohort-based course, but that isn’t passive income.
I launched two writing guides. Don’t worry, I won’t hyperlink it to sell it to you because this article is about something else and I don’t want to be that person who sells you after cushioning you.
These writing guides were:
- Medium Guide
- Article Guide
Now, the article guide was everything in the Medium guide minus the Medium-related stuff.
Build once, use twice.
These two products have made me $796.97 in twelve days.
The rule to get paid is, to make it an investment for your customer.
If somebody spends $20 on my guide, they should make 2x or 100x the money back.
What results is your product going to give?
What is the proof that it can?
Think about this before you create anything.
Finally, Know This
I wrote these guides four months before I published them. I wrote them for fun and procrastinated publishing them.
I’m glad I did that.
The thing is, passive income comes after a lot of active work.
To make money in your sleep, and yes, that's a brilliant feeling, there’s a lot of work for very long that goes behind that.
There is truly no shortcut. But at least it’s doable, and it’s fun.
I’m not even ‘famous’ and I could do it. So there’s no way you should hold yourself back and think you cannot. Because if I can, you can.
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